Into the Wild

Pros

I don't think I will ever lose the memory of this movie, I can barely get Chris off my mind!

I was left with questions, and performed a lot of research to answer those.

Cons

The pain of the discarded family isn't highlighted enough.

The beginning of the movie was a little hard to follow because of the "flashbacks".

Review

“Into the Wild” is a stirring drama of comfort and conflict, supported by equally impressive cinematography, music, and performances.

Sean Penn’s variation of Jon Krakauer’s biography about Christopher McCandless eagerly pulls out the riveting flaws of both America and the late McCandless — a culture’s massive soulfulness and its insipid emptiness, a majestic land’s magnificence and danger, the ability of youth to be both impulsive and tremendously instructive.

Christopher McCandless purposely disappeared after graduating from college. He ditched his car, donated his savings to charity, burned his cash, left home without telling anyone, and tramped cross-country to a broken-down bus deep in the Alaskan wilderness.

McCandless’s journey included a series of meetings with hobos, dreamers, and loners, including Hal Holbrook in an unforgettable role as a man who’s lived longer alone than with family. His offer to adopt Chris is moving and true, but for Chris, acceptance is equal to vacating his wandering-spirit pursuit to obtain a rare experience.

In due course, reality eventually beat McCandless’s dreams. He is ill-prepared to live off a truly wild land. His was a naivety taken too far, but also a motivation impossible to cut short. Even in its traumatic final moments, “Wild” achieved a spiritually higher peak — the idea of ending one long, strange trip and plunging into an even greater unknown with both fear and jubilation.